By Jennifer Braddock – Editor

Let’s face it. If you’re a writer, and your most “authentic” story involves flipping an egg, you should consider exploring more complex topics.

It might be time to dig up the messy stuff. Are you just staring at a blank screen or a notebook page?

You know, like that one time you were caught shoplifting and the cop made you own up to your dad. Remember when you almost got cast as “Man in Crowd #256? You didn’t answer the casting director’s call. You thought it was a spam number.

Don’t worry.

“All you have to do is write one true sentence,” Ernest Hemingway said.

Authenticity matters more than polish

Polish can make your writing look good, but authenticity makes it mean something. Readers can sense when you’re putting up a front or trying too hard to impress with overly interesting descriptions. They’ll nod politely and move on to the next book.

When you tell the truth, your voice might crack. Your story might stumble. Your guard might drop. That’s when people get hooked. Perfect writing might win awards, but authentic writing wins hearts. When you combine the two, that’s what keeps readers coming back, not to admire your prose, but to feel something real.

Readers crave connection, not perfection

Perfection is intimidating. Connection is comforting. Do you identify more with the person who never makes a mistake, or do you relate to the one who dribbled a Coke down their shirt before a big presentation?

Readers want to see themselves in your story: their fears, mess-ups, and the small triumphs. If you try to make yourself the flawless hero, you shut people out. When you share your struggle, you invite them to be a part of your story. In a world filled with filtered selfies and curated feeds, your raw honesty stands out. It is the most refreshing thing they will have read all day.

Your most embarrassing stories are your most relatable

That time you accidentally called your teacher “Mom”? or said “I love you” to a customer service rep? Those moments you wish you could delete are storytelling gold. Why? Because we’ve all been there: humiliated, awkward, and unsure. Those memories feel awful in the moment. Yet, they’re the ones that make people laugh, cry, and say, “Oh my gosh, me too.”

If you’re brave enough to tell the story, someone out there is waiting to read it. They want to feel a little less alone.

Every failure, regret, and awkward moment is a secret gold mine

Behind every “I blew it” is a potential breakthrough in your writing and in your life. Failure teaches us what success never will.

Regret reveals our values. Awkwardness strips away ego. These moments are obstacles and building blocks. Don’t run from them. Use them. Write turning points into chapters. Write honestly about what went wrong, and with a sense of humor transforms shame into strength. It’s not about glorifying the stmble. It’s about showing how you got back up and on your feet.

Fiction is great, but truth punches harder

There’s power in fiction, but even the most fantastic stories hit hardest when they echo something true. We weep over made-up characters because their pain feels real.

When your writing comes straight from experience, it lands with more impact. Your lived truth doesn’t need embellishment. Tell it with bravery.

Your voice is more compelling than anything you dream up. It is shaped by the sweet, the bitter, the bizarre, and everything else you’ve experienced.

Dig deep for your truth

Your life is a ragtag scrapbook of shining and cringe-inducing moments, not a flawless resumé. Own them. Write them. Your one true sentence might start with a terrible haircut, a missed opportunity, or a mistake you thought you’d buried.

Dig deep, be brave, and stop trying to airbrush away your bad experiences. Your truth is your voice. It’s what readers remember long after the last page.

At the end of the day, writing isn’t about sounding smart or looking impressive. It’s about telling the truth, even when your voice shakes.

Hemingway wasn’t asking us to be profound. He wants us to be honest. One true sentence. Your truth might come wrapped in awkwardness, heartbreak, or absurdity. Your true sentence is what makes your writing believable and powerful. Stop waiting for the perfect idea or the polished version of yourself. Dig deep. Say the things you’ve been scared to say. Start with one true sentence. The rest will follow.

Do you have questions or comments? Ask Besty Bot about the writing craft and how to publish your book with Best Chance Media!

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✍️ Hemingway said to write one true sentence. That’s it. Not the perfect sentence. Not the impressive one. Just the real one. Your most embarrassing, awkward, even painful stories? They’re your most powerful. Don’t polish the truth out of them. Start with honesty — and let the story unfold from there. 💬 #WriteYourTruth #OneTrueSentence #AuthenticWriting #WritersLife #INFPwriter #RealStoriesMatter #MemoirMoments #WriteToConnect #MessyIsMeaningful #TruthBeTold https://bestchancemedia.org/2025/09/04/embrace-authenticity-in-writing-the-power-of-true-stories/

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Published by Alan O’Hashi, Whole Brain Thinker

I’ve been involved with community journalism since 1968 when I wrote for my junior school paper, the "Tumbleweed," through high school and college and then wrote for the "Wyoming State Journal." I put aside my newspaper pen and began Boulder Community Media in 2005. There wasn’t much community journalism opportunity, so I resurrected my writing career as a screenwriter. My first short screenplay, “Stardust”, won an award in the 2005 Denver Screenwriting Center contest. I've made a number of movies over the years. Filmmaking is time-consuming, labor and equipment intensive. I recently changed my workflow to first write a book and make a movie based on that content. - Electric Vehicle Anxiety and Advice - This is a memoir travelogue of three trips covering 2,600 EV miles around Wyoming (2022) - Beyond Heart Mountain - Winter Goose Publishers released my memoir in February (2022) - The Zen of Writing with Confidence and Imperfection - This is a book recounting how luck planed into my signing a book deal after a 15-minute pitch meeting. (2020) - True Stories of an Aging Baby Boomer - War stories about living in a cohousing and lessons others can learn when starting their communities (2021) - Beyond Sand Creek - About Arapaho tribal efforts to repatriate land in Colorado (PBS - TBA) - Beyond Heart Mountain - Based on my memoir about my childhood in Cheyenne facing overt and subtle racism toward the Japanese following World War II (PBS - 2021) - New Deal Artist Public Art Legacy - About artists who created work in Wyoming during the Great Depression (PBS - 2018) - Mahjong and the West - SAG indie feature which premiered at the semi-important Woodstock Film Festival (2014) Over the years, I’ve produced directed, filmed and/or edited several short movies, “Running Horses” (Runner Up – Wyoming Short Film Contest), “On the Trail: Jack Kerouac in Cheyenne” (Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival, Top 10 Wyoming Short Film Contest), “Gold Digger” (Boulder Asian Film Festival), “Adobo” (Boulder International Film Festival), “A Little Bit of Discipline” (Rosebud Film Series), and two feature length documentaries “Your Neighbor’s Child” (Wyoming PBS and Rocky Mountain PBS), and “Serotonin Rising” (American Film Market, Vail Film Festival). He also directed and produced the award winning stage play “Webster Street Blues” by my childhood friend Warren Kubota. Boulder Community Media is a non-profit production company dedicated to democratzing media in all their forms - large and small screens, printed page and stage by providing sustainable and community-based content. I mostly work with community-based media producers, organizations, and socially-responsible businesses to develop their content via – the written word, electronic and new media, the visual and performing arts in a culturally competent manner – I’m what’s commonly called a niche TV and movie producer. Along with all this is plying my forte’ – fund development through grant writing, sponsorship nurturing and event planning.

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